"Come on, Jack! Let's have a snowball fight! You haven't done one in weeks." Jamie pleaded as the other Guardians stood behind the boy in his back yard; they'd all gathered, trying to pull Jack from his mood and get him to do more than just make a light snow fall.
"Come on ya bloody show pony, jus' make a snowfall. It's not the end of the world." Jack bristled at the Pooka's choice of words and Bunny's ears flattened a little in fear.
"End of the world... right, you know who was my world? Mysterie, her and the kids I might add." Tooth tried to calm him down with a comforting touch on his shoulder, but Jack wasn't having any of it; instead of making the snow fall that Jamie wanted for his home town, a huge blizzard was whipped up and it flowed across the world as Jack's eyes briefly flickered from their normal brilliant blue to a darker stormy one before chaining back. Jack huffed a little as he sat on the fence he'd been leisurely walking along moments before they'd all showed up. Jamie was quickly hugged by both North and Bunnymund to shield him from the sudden onslaught of cold that could have caused hypothermia and seeing this caused a look of guilt to cross Jack's features before he flew off and away from his friends, ignoring their calls for him to come back. Jack was done with the lot of them trying to cheer him up when it was, partly, their fault he was so miserable. Sandy chased after Jack, he was done with the winter spirit's nonsense over this. He needed to talk to Jack, away from the others if he was going to get in any words in edgewise let alone get Jack's attention at all. He waited until the two of them were out of sight of the others before lassoing the young Guardian with a gold whip and yanking the winter boy to him; he had something to say and the boy was going to listen to him if he had to truss him up in dream sand from head to foot. Below them, in the nearby town, everyone was riding out Jack's blizzard; Mysterie had found herself a cave just outside the town and watched the snow turn the world around her white for a while before it moved on. Jack... There was no doubt in her mind it was his doing and that he wasn't happy. Jack never would purposely cause a white-out like that...
Jack was shocked and turned to see who had caught him only to see the bit of sand streaming out of Sandy's ears that meant he was mad.
"What do you want Sandy? Can't you see I'm done today?!" Jack struggled against the sand, icing it and breaking the whip; he called silently to the wind to take him out of there but this time the wind didn't obey him; instead a nearby cloud seemed to take the form of a woman with her arms crossed, the wind whirling about the image to make it come to life. Jack blinked against the gust.
"Fine! I don't need you to get around anyway!" He all but growled as the wind set him down on the ground. Instead of sticking about, he ran, disappearing into the woods with Sandy just behind him.
"Damn he's fast..." With a sigh of frustration, Sandy zipped around and the wind aided him this time; knocking Jack back into a snow bank, allowing Sandy enough time to float in front of him with large sand letters so that Jack couldn't possibly miss what he was saying:
JACK FROST WILL YOU STAY STILL FOR ONE FUCKING MINUTE TO TALK! I KNOW YOU'RE MAD AT JAMIE BUT WILL YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME A MINUTE?!
Jack stared with wide eyes. He had NEVER seen Sandy swear... ever, no matter how irritated he was with the other Guardians... Well, okay, so maybe the little Guardian had something serious to tell him. Jack sighed as he brushed snow off of him.
"Continue." Jack said, pretending to pick dirt from under his clean nails as he waited to see what the golden man had to say. Sandy crossed his arms, he still seemed a little ticked but also satisfied that he had gotten Jack to stay put for once; just because he didn't swear often didn't mean he never did. After all, it was something he didn't like doing and only did it when absolutely necessary... which he figured now had to be one of those rare times; his sand floated above his head in words so Jack would get the message clearly without needing any translation:
Jamie might have wished for her to leave, but I think there's a limit to that... She's not exactly gone so much as restricted. I know this because I caught a glimpse of her the other night. We don't know how her powers work or what exactly she is... But I think it's safe to say every spirit from light fairies to even dark spirits like Pitch have heard about what happened and they're not taking it well.
Jack's eyes lit up at the mention that Mysterie had been seen somewhere. Suddenly he felt guilt slam into him as he realized just how badly he'd been treating the others these past few weeks in his misery.
"Sandy... I'm sorry for being such an ass and endangering everyone. You just don't know how much I love her." He whispered the next words.
"She was my first." A few stray tears slid down his cheeks but then what the other Guardian had said finally clicked in his mind and he brightened considerably, the tears forgotten.
"Sandy... you said you saw her." He grabbed the smaller Guardian, shaking him gently for answers.
"Where is she?! When did you see her last?" Sandy nearly grinned when he realized Jack was acting a little like Tooth, but he kept from it because that would take a bit of explaining and he didn't think Jack would appreciate the comparison at the moment. Instead, a small smile crossed his features at first before he remembered what he'd seen the last time he'd seen the younger spirit.
Worry crossed the Sandman's features and an arrow formed from his sand pointing south before reforming into words:
Be careful Jack... When I saw her she was dealing with a pair of hot-headed summer spirits. I don't know if she drove them off or if they drove her off... I've seen her a couple of other times... the spirits are angry with her. Before anything else could be said, the North Wind was gone with Jack, leaving a whispered apology to Sandy who merely smiled a little and waved at them both as they disappeared towards the south. As Jack sped in that direction the snow he left behind was light and beautiful, just as it had once been before.
"I'm coming Mysterie. I won't ever let you go again... not ever!" Jack vowed to himself as he went off in search of her. Sandy knew too well what it was like to love because he had loved once, it had been a long time ago and it was a love that he had never revealed to anyone. One that still burned in his small chest from time to time; none of the others would ever suspect it. He knew too well that love was a powerful force that, sometimes, knew no boundaries...
Mysterie shot past a tree, barely escaping a vine that had whipped out in front of her. Damn it all! She was outnumbered, but that was nothing new, or hadn't been the last four weeks or so. Why are there so many tonight? She wondered as she dodged a fire ball from a summer spirit only to be slammed into a tree by a boulder from an earth spirit. She bit her lip to keep from crying out as she heard a resounding crack, she pushed the boulder back from her with her sand, but she was certain by this point that she'd cracked a few ribs. Wonderful...
"You can't run forever you snake!" The summer spirit yelled as she ducked beneath a stream of flame, but yelped as a dagger of ice slammed into her left leg; a minor winter spirit had joined the fray. She stumbled back as they began to circle around her like vultures; a wind spirit floated down from the air, having seen the fight and deciding to also join. They were all glaring at her. The wind suddenly howled around Mysterie and the wind spirit could only think 'shit!' realizing that one of the ruling wind spirits had suddenly appeared and was protecting the wounded spirit before them.
"Run guys!" The air spirit managed to yell, but before the others could do anything, let alone reply, they were slammed with a flurry of hail that sent them scrambling back from Mysterie. Jack landed, his eyes filled with barely contained fury. The spirits were bloodied and could barely move by the time the ice storm had stopped, but they were still very much alive and very afraid as they stared up at the furious Guardian. They knew who he was and it would be suicide for their kind to even entertain the idea of going against him.
"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Jack snarled, he looked anything but happy as his eyes darted from one injured spirit to the next; his eyes shining as they became pools of black, the spirits could only stare in utter horror; they knew too well what the winter spirit was capable of, he wasn't the master of the season of winter for nothing.
"Please... he can't do this! Please help!" The young wind spirit whispered to Mysterie, the young spirit had managed to evade most of the brunt of the attack; but even so the spirit was covered in bruises and blood.
"You worthless spirits will be an example of what happens when you attack Mysterie." The spirits trembled in fear, they had thought that he was on their side and had only thought good things of the youngest Guardian until now. They had never imagined that his wrath would be brought down on their heads.
"Jack no!" Mysterie cries out, knowing that she couldn't allow him to do this. Not for the sake of the spirits who were cowering in fear, but for his sake; she knew that Jack had never killed anyone on purpose before and that once someone had crossed that line there was no going back... She couldn't let him do it, because she knew how painful such regret was.
"It's not worth it... THEY are not worth it..." She went on, hoping that she could reach him. Hearing her voice calmed Jack down and kept him from ending the spirits; even so his anger isn't gone.
"If I ever catch you or any other spirits harming her I won't let you go alive." He snarled for emphasis and the wounded spirits scrambled away from the two as fast as they could. Jack turned away from the fleeing forms to his love.
"M-mysterie." He moved to be close to her, he could scarcely believe she was really here; that he was seeing her again. He hugged her close, tears of joy falling from his eyes.
"I love you so much and I've missed you." Mysterie blinked, a little surprised that her words really had been able to reach him and she winced from some bruises she'd gotten earlier on and now that Jack was hugging against, causing her a bit of pain.
"Ouch... um... not so tight please. I don't want my ribs puncturing my lungs." She wasn't sure how to fully react, he'd gone from full fury to... this... in a matter of seconds... but she couldn't help feeling relieved to see him once more. Jack let go of her immediately, his eyes had blackened to the point that only a slender part of them were blue now.
"Next time they're not going to get away with more than flesh wounds." Jack snarled, his anger rising again. Frightened by the change, the wind pushed him away from the severely injured spirit, knowing too well how dark Jack's been becoming as of late; Jakul chuckles at the wind. Mysterie winced and despite her wounds she scrambled away from Jack, eyes wide with fear and yet... sad at the same time.
"Can't stop it. It's who he is now and I am purely a part of him, only if he lets his emotions get out of hand." The wind whispers what Jakul has said, though it really isn't needed; though it seemed that seeing her had calmed Jack down considerably... if only temporarily.
"Mysterie... what happened? Why did you leave?" Jack asked, honestly curious even as he sighed; anger swirling within him for no real reason. She didn't answer his question, she wasn't really sure what to say for the moment that wouldn't just make him more angry and she didn't want him anymore angry at Jamie than he likely already was. She wasn't a Guardian, she hadn't taken the oath, but she would still protect the children and that included protecting Jamie from the anger of the winter spirit that was his best friend. Jack shook his head, giving her the brightest smile suddenly.
"Don't worry about it, let's go back to Burgess!" He moved to help her up, not aware that she couldn't follow him there. She shook her head, backing up only to wince as she felt the sting of the ice dagger that was still lodged in her leg. She hissed a little in pain, reaching for the thing and gritting her teeth before she yanked it free. Blood quickly poured from the wound until sand wrapped around it into a makeshift bandage.
"I can't Jack... Jamie's wish... I... I can't. I..." Tears began falling down her face, but she didn't notice as her misery seemed to set in; her next words were whispered almost too softly to hear, desperate sorrow lacing her voice.
"What have I done..." The feel of a gentle touch startles her and she looks up to meet Jack's brilliant blue eyes through her blurry vision.
"If you can't come with me then I'll stay with you. Like I said before, I love you, and won't ever let you go."
"Jack..." The word comes out, her voice a bit chocked and she chokes back a sob even as she begins to cry even harder. Why do I make a mess of everything I touch?! How can you even say you love me when I... She couldn't finish the thought, she'd done some bad things when she'd been alive, but nothing ever as remotely bad as what Shadow had forced her to do to the innocent Jamie. Jack gently kissed the tears from her face.
"Please don't cry. I'm here and I won't ever leave you alone. Not ever again, promise me you won't leave me again." He sat next to her, brushing twigs from her hair; thinking only that every part of her was so beautiful, that there wasn't anything he wouldn't do to keep this from happening to her again. Mysterie buried her head in her hands, ignoring the pain of her wounds as she cried; nothing seemed right to her anymore... nothing but the pain...